


spice up

by chennieforyourthoughts



Category: Golden Child (Korea Band)
Genre: 00fftober, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Bae Seungmin/Son Youngtaek | TAG/Bong Jaehyun, M/M, Seasons Incarnate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 21:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20842451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chennieforyourthoughts/pseuds/chennieforyourthoughts
Summary: Spring is Seungmin—a bit floral, more perfume than sweet, and a bit tart. Fall is Youngtaek—apple cider and ginger. Summer is both of them, but Winter belongs to someone else.Or, the one in which they wait for Winter hand in hand.





	spice up

**Author's Note:**

> #00FFTOBER Day 1: Spring

Spring has long since changed. This is something clear, something that is easily seen in the last wavering heat at the start of autumn. It is even starting to _ taste _like fall, and Seungmin wakes every day and observes the changes happening around him.

Fall has always been one of his favorite months. He has two, actually, and spring is not one of them. Winter, too, is not one of them, because even though it is spent curled up on the couch with his favorite pair of fluffy socks and his love (in that order), little can compare to summer and fall.

The summer has technically passed, but it still feels very much like the heart of it when Seungmin thinks about going outside. He longs for the tastes of fall, apple cider and hot coco and ginger or cinnamon-spiced cookies.

Youngtaek has always tasted like fall, and that is because he is. He sounds like fall to Seungmin, too, who hears the way the wind echoes in the trees in the way Youngtaek speaks and the crackle of leaves, or sometimes of fires, in all the little noises he makes. Seungmin thinks about this for a moment as he stretches an arm out over his head. He supposes that Youngtaek is out on the deck, despite the sweltering heat, watching the smallest of the small changes happening around them, and decides to join him.

The summer has technically passed, but their time is not over. Youngtaek sees the coming of the fall, and with it, the eventual return of spring. Spring again, Youngtaek thinks, and he longs for the taste of it. It's a bit floral, more perfume than sweet, and a bit tart. He wants to chase it, and is considering walking back into the house when Seungmin slides the door open and joins Youngtaek outside.

The teas Seungmin hold belong firmly to the summer, but neither is bothered by that. The summer itself belongs to the two of them, just as much as spring belongs to Seungmin and Seungmin belongs to spring and fall belongs to Youngtaek and Youngtaek belongs to fall. Youngtaek takes a sip from his drink first, and it tastes like peaches. Peaches are a summer flavor, so he knows he will not taste them again for quite a while, and the thought threatens to make him melancholy. But eventually the seasons will change again, and Youngtaek's beloved fall will yield to the winter neither of them particularly likes, but then winter will pass into spring and he and Seungmin will walk under the plum and cherry blossoms. Both are fruits that Youngtaek likes, mostly because they remind him of Seungmin and the season he does not belong to but is given an opportunity to experience just the same.

  


Just because Seungmin is the spring does not mean that he is soft, although he is gentle, and Youngtaek respects this. He knows that frosts come with the spring just as they come with the fall, although he has always thought that Seungmin's have lasted longer. But there is no frost that day because it is much too hot; it is too hot even for the two of them to be in close proximity, and both huddle close to the ice in their glasses.

Pedestrians pass by on the street outside. Well, cars too, but pedestrians are what interest the pair. What Seungmin and Youngtaek do could be called people watching, except it's less watching people and more watching for someone like _ them. _Because as domestic as they look sitting there on their porch, sipping the peach iced tea that reminds them of their blend of seasons, they are not people.

They sit outside most seasons other than winter and wait. They haven't seen anyone yet, but that's alright by them. Seungmin is nothing but patient, and although Youngtaek is distinctly less, he has found ways to occupy his time. They do not know how many others there are like them out there in the world, but what they do know is that Seungmin is spring, Youngtaek is fall, and their joining is summer.

Youngtaek believes that there is one other, one for the winter, one who could make them love the season which taunts them in the in-between. Seungmin agrees with him because he is rather ambivalent, and because it makes Youngtaek happy. Sometimes when they're outside in the late hours of the night, when most of the pedestrians have passed on by, Youngtaek will take his hand and talk about what they'd do with winter. Ice skating, maybe, or reducing the horrid heatwaves of the summer. Seungmin has always snorted at that, and Youngtaek has always asked him what he's been reading on the Internet recently.

Well, what Seungmin reads on his own time is none of Youngtaek's business, and he _ has _ seen the other's search history. Being immortal had its perks, after all, and even though he and Youngtaek had not been there from the beginning, they would be there together at the end and beyond. _ If there would be such thing as mortal and immortal in the beyond. _

But it is the first day of the first full month of fall, and absolutely nothing is happening on the street in front of them. Seungmin has asked before if perhaps they should move to a more crowded place, a place where although they might not see everybody they will see a much greater volume of people, but Youngtaek has always insisted that they stay on their porch. As if he knows what Seungmin is thinking—which was not a crazy idea—Youngtaek turns and smiles at him. "Any day now, I think," he says, which is exactly what he's been saying for the last year. But he has been stubbornly optimistic since he and Seungmin met and has kept on saying the exact same thing every single day, and the thing that Seungmin finds strange is that he _ believes _Youngtaek. He believes that Youngtaek is telling the truth, that they will find winter any day now. As it is, he lets Youngtaek play with their joined fingers and keeps watching-not-watching the people walking by.

It's a quiet day, and the heat has driven most of the people off of the streets. It's lingering long into the evening, and Seungmin's shirt feels decidedly sticky. He wonders if Youngtaek's is the same, if it would drag when being taken off, and indulges himself for a moment. But it does not last long, because suddenly the temperature is dropping, and Seungmin sighs in blissful relief.

The light does not begin to dim and herald the day's change into the gloaming as Seungmin thought it would, so he starts to look around at his surroundings. Unseen tension has drained from Youngtaek, who hates the heat even more than Seungmin does, and his eyes are closed, so Seungmin sees him first.

Seungmin sees him first, and he sees Seungmin at the same time, and they see each other for what they are. Maybe it’s somewhat ridiculous, two guys gawking at each other on a neighborhood sidewalk, but right then neither particularly cares."Youngtaek," says Seungmin. "Look."

Youngtaek hums and opens his eyes, and Seungmin is thankful he is there to see pure, childlike wonder flow through him. "You're winter!" Youngtaek shouts, although it's hardly necessary, because the stranger is almost undoubtedly the end and the beginning of the full circle.

Winter smiles, although it's with a hint of a pout, and Youngtaek swears he hears baby birds. Well, actually, those are baby birds, and they're suddenly there because of Seungmin. Nothing says _ immediately whipped _like a chorus of chirping baby animals, right? "I'm Jaehyun," Winter says, and Seungmin and Youngtaek push back their chairs at the same time. They are still holding their drinks in hand, but at that moment they are not exactly considering whether the newcomer enjoys peach or not.

They've had a long time to think about what to say when they finally met winter, so now Seungmin smiles and takes a step forward. "Please come inside, Jaehyun. Would you like some tea?"

They've had a long time to think about what to say, and the summer heat has clung onto the year for just as long, but it is the first day of the first full month of fall and winter is stepping hesitantly through their door.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Admin Tea for creating this challenge and answering my various silly questions, and to Evie, Jackie, and Vic for their patient advice!


End file.
